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Area officials optimistic after Thursday meeting with federal officials in Ottawa over Trent-Severn Waterway cuts

MPP Jeff Leal, left, is joined by superintendent Dawn Bronson of Trent Severn Waterway and MP Dean Del Mastro after signing a document in response to the Panel on the Future of the Trent Severn Waterway on Thursday, July 14, 2011 next to the Peterborough Lift Lock. CLIFFORD SKARSTEDT/Peterborough Examiner/QMI Agency

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The short-term crisis on the Trent-Severn Waterway may be over, according to Quinte West Mayor John Williams.

Politicians and staff from several municipalities and five government MPs — including Peterborough MP Dean Del Mastro and Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock MP Barry Devolin — met with federal officials in Ottawa Thursday in an effort to find some short-term fixes for the troubled federal waterway.

“I'm optimistic something can get done. It was a very positive meeting,” Williams said.

At issue were service levels, hours of operation and fees charged to boaters on the 386-kilometre waterway based in Peterborough that runs between Port Severn on Georgian Bay and Trenton on the Bay of Quinte. The group formally presented Park Canada staff with proposed user fees that show gradual increases over the next five years.

“We stressed service levels and were told the government is working hard to get problems rectified,” Williams said. “We want on-demand lockage services.”

Parks Canada had proposed service cuts and reduced hours of operation last fall and followed those changes up in January with a substantial increase in fees. The changes sparked widespread opposition from boaters, politicians and business owners.

As for longer-term issues, such as yanking control of the federal waterway from Parks Canada, Williams said that topic will be addressed at a future date.

Williams and other officials wanted guarantees service levels won't change and that an “acceptable” fee schedule is in place when the boating season begins in May.

“Government MPs are on side. There is political support and we're very hopeful we can get this fixed,” added Williams. “We'll see what happens next.”

While federal Environment Minister Peter Kent was not at the meeting, two of his staffers were present.

“They got the message and understood where we were coming from,” Williams said.

“These are national treasures, and they are systematically being gutted and dismantled with what's being proposed by the federal government,” Macmillan said last week. “To gut them is just criminal.”

The two waterways are “economic drivers” that generate millions of dollars in revenue and help maintain businesses in communities such as Trent Hills, Macmillan said. “It's scaring the hell out of business owners and it's a burden on people who are worried about their livelihoods. It's a mean thing if that's their strategy.”

Macmillan said the changes in Trent-Severn Waterway operations, including new fee higher fee schedules, reductions in daily service and proposed roaming truck crews that will let boaters through locks at preset times, represent a complete lack of understanding at the federal level of the importance of the waterway to local communities.

“It reads to me like it was written by somebody who's never left their cubicle in Ottawa, never been to a rural community, visited one of the canals, seen a lockage occur or seen the thousands of dollars that are spent in local communities and the jobs that are spun off. And I've got a real problem with guys driving around in pickup trucks from lock to lock following boats.”

Unfortunately, the current Conservative government is not the only government in power that has ignored and underfunded the waterways, Macmillan said. “They've been an absolute vacuum for lack of funding, and all political stripes are guilty of that over the past 50 plus years. They have not invested into the infrastructure of he canal. And now, to cut operations, I just don't understand it; it's just beyond me.”

Macmillan praised Williams for spearheading efforts to fight for the preservation of the Trent-Severn Waterway and for organizing a Jan. 24 meeting at Quinte West City Hall to discuss the issue.

Macmillan and Trent Hills council also supported a new alternative fee proposal that emerged from the meeting. The new fee schedule would involve a gradual increase in mooring and lockage fees, starting with a $0.90 per foot rate in 2013, and increasing the fee by 10% in 2014 and by three per cent a year until 2018. A season pass would start at $8.80 in 2013 and increase to $9.68 in 2014 then increase three per cent annually to 2018. The fees are based on a 25-foot pleasure boat.